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Atadero, Jaryd
Summary from Reddit, thanks to u/Lina1611 True Murder recently had Allyn Atadero, father of Jaryd Atadero on his program to discuss his book link Although officials have marked this as a solved case, that Jaryd was most likely killed by a mountain lion, his father Allyn contends that an abduction leading to foul play was the cause of death. I thought it would be interesting to look over the case and discuss whether or not there is any evidence of a crime. Jaryd Atadero, 3, went on a hike up the Big South Trail in Podure Canyon, CO with a group of adults and his 6 year old sister. His father, Allyn Atadero stayed at the lodge he owned and operated. Allyn knew the adults from a Christian group that stayed at his lodge, Poudre River Resorts, and trusted the 10 adults. Allyn Atadero went to take a nap, and was woken up by the church group who informed Allyn that "he was fine, but we just can't find him." While on the trail, the ten adults (there are some conflicting reports ranging from 10 to 16 adults) were split between two groups, and the kids were running between the groups. Per the adults, Jaryd most likely ran ahead to catch up the lead group, and then ran past them to ‘surprise’ them on the trail. This was the last time he was spotted by his group. A five day search for Jaryd was held by Larimer Co Sherriff's office, but was thwarted by a SAR helicopter crash on Oct 5th, and snow that rolled into the Rocky Mountains. He was believed to be spotted by two fisherman on the trail, who he approached and asked them if there were bears nearby. The fisherman confirmed that they were in bear country, and Jaryd then left. Searchers found a set of 'prints' that were initially thought to be Jaryd's, but were later identified by wildlife experts as bear tracks that were interwoven as the bear went up and down the trail. CNN Report of the search NY Times report of the search, with weather information. Big South Trail Info, with map link Additional link with a larger map of the area as well as photos from Big South, which is just north of Rocky Mountain National Park, in Roosevelt National Forest The case went cold for a number of years, until hikers found clothing consistent with a young boy on the trail 3.5 years later, on June 4, 2003. Hairs were also found on the clothing, which were not consistent with Jaryd's dark hair. Allyn Atadero identified the clothing as Jaryd's. Partial remains were found on June 14th, 2003. The remains were parts of a skull cap and a tooth link Both the remains and the clothing were found on a cliff above the trail, which was difficult to traverse. Investigators struggled to get up the cliff. Here is a link of the cliff area off trail. I only link to this source because of the photo, and it is a nice summary of Allyn Atadero’s issues with his son’s case. No, it’s not Bigfoot. Allyn Atadero has been very critical of the investigation. I’ve highlighted some of the more compelling concerns, but won’t deal with the issues raised by Missing 411. Logic dictates that there is no massive conspiracy that there are Bigfoots murdering everyone. Jaryd went missing on a trail that is marked moderate to strenuous. There is a net gain of over 1000 feet, going from 8497’ to 9553’, and the trail is 6.5 miles in one direction. This is not a trail for unprepared or inexperienced hikers, by any stretch. Weather conditions can never be dismissed either. Colorado is notorious for temperature shifts of 40 degrees in Denver. Trails can have even more significant shifts in weather in a very short time. I have been on trails in Rocky Mountain National Park in late June and turned back because it started to snow. Many people are very dismissive of how dangerous parks and trails can be, under ideal circumstances, much less with young children on a difficult trail during snow season. I’ve pulled a few interesting tidbits from the podcast for discussion: Possible Sighting in Mesa Verde National Park. Ranger Craig Weston reported spotting a boy matching Jaryd’s description in Mesa Verde National Park with a man. The boy kept holding Ranger Weston’s hand during a tour, which struck Weston as odd. Mesa Verde is in South West Colorado, an 8 hour drive from where Jaryd was last seen. Nothing came of this lead or witness descriptions. Allyn Atadero asserts authorities never followed up on this lead, per Weston. Allyn requested FBI involvement, and an Amber Alert to be issued. FBI declined, as they saw no evidence of a crime. Did Ranger Weston see Jaryd? Did the authorities investigate this lead? Is this a case of mistaken identity, or was Jaryd abducted? Search Dog controversy: Allyn Atadero contends that search dogs did not have the correct scent when looking for Jaryd. Per his book and interviews, search officials showed him the shorts that they were using to scent, which were Allyn’s, not Jaryd’s. Other than Allyn’s book, the only other source claiming this is here. Missing 411 met with Allyn, so it’s reasonable to conclude that Allyn was the source. Here is an account from the Colorado Search and Rescue detailing the search efforts, which was a great read, and a bit of a counterpoint to the argument of why didn’t the dogs find anything? newsletter Was it a simple issue of weather (snow fell October 5th), and rough terrain that made holding Jaryd’s scent impossible for the dogs? Did he go into the water? (there is a river along the trail) Or, did SAR not have the correct scent? DNA/evidence questions: Allyn asserts the DNA obtained from the dental evidence recovered was contaminated. Allyn suggests that the clothing recovered were placed there, and that the DNA evidence was contaminated by a burial site with another victim—that the tooth recovered may belong to another victim. I can’t find any evidence beyond sources provided by Allyn Atadero in his book or interviews that can confirm this. In the email Allyn received, the author was adamant that labs are very careful to avoid mistakes. This is very true, but we know that labs DO make mistakes, and do contaminate evidence. There are plenty of cases that prove this. Was it a simple lab error, or were the remains/clothing planted by a killer to allow authorities to close the case? Allyn contests that his son's pants were inside out, as if they were pulled off of him when he received pictures to identify. When he was given them back, they were right side out. Does this suggest that Jaryd was abducted or abused? Was this from a predator/scavenger? His shoes were found in very good shape, in a crevice. Is this evidence they were planted there by a killer? Did the crevice offer enough shelter to protect from snow, and intense sun for three years? At over 8000' there is significant increase in radiation “Criminal Profiler”: A woman named Shelley Goff was charged in 2001 after calling Allyn Atadero numerous times with false information regarding his son. She claimed that one of the women on the hike had Jaryd and wanted to return him, and later that he was in a Mexican Labor Camp. She wanted to ‘help’ because she claimed she had been abducted as a child herself. It wasn’t part of the podcast, but I did find this in an archived Rocky Mountain News article about the case (Denver had two papers, RMN and the Denver Post for a number of years, until RMN was bought out by the Denver Post). Did her false hope help add to the questions regarding this case?